FTV Tech

This past weekend, after getting an invite from Apple, FTVLive installed the newest version of their operating system called "Yosemite."

After test driving the beta version, we can tell you that this is a big upgrade for Apple. This new OS feels much more modern and much cleaner than the older versions of OS 10. There is no big changes to the programs you love, they just look better. Safari still looks like the Safari you currently use, but much more clean.

Messages will work across both your Mac, iPhone and iPad seamlessly. You can also use the "Soundbites" feature that lets you send short, pre-recorded audio messages in a normal texting thread.

The biggest feature that we like so far is iCloud Drive, which allows you to store your files on iCloud and then access them on any device.

The new "handoff" feature is cool as well. It allows to take your work from one device to another with ease.

We have only been using Yosemite for a couple of days, but we can assure you, if you own a Mac, you are going to want to upgrade to this OS as soon as it comes out.

As we have told you, FTVLive has been wearing Google Glass for the past few weeks.

For those that don't know, Glass is wearable technology that should be released by Google later this year. The more we wear Glass, the more we can see that wearable tech (on the face, or wrist) is defiantly part of the future.

But, what will be the future of Glass in TV news?

FTVLive asked news and technology expert Michael Rosenblum to give us his take on Glass and its future in TV news.

Rosenblum has been on the forefront of new technology as it relates to news gathering. He started the Video Journalist revolution. Michael travels the word teaching Journalists how new technology can be used to do our jobs more economically and he feels better.

So what about Glass?

Rosenblum gives his take:

On March 4, I will be offering a 3-hour session on Google Glass and Journalism, done in partnership with The Guardian newspaper, in London. http://www.rosenblumtv.com/google-glass-seminar/

There is a reason we have partnered with The Guardian for the first of these Glass seminars: Glass is going to have an enormous impact on the world of journalism and in the newsroom.

The “Explorer” version of Glass, the one we have been using, is only the first iteration of this technology, but looking at it you can see where this is headed. It is called ‘wearable technology’, but having used it now for several months, I think the better term is ‘immersive’. The user is not just ‘wearing’ Glass, they are physically immersed in the web, 24/7.

This has the potential to completely change the way conventional newsrooms – TV, newspaper and online operate.

First, and most clearly, the ‘reporter’ now has the ability to capture both video and stills on the fly, with no need to ‘bring a camera’, or even interrupt the process by holding one up. Admittedly, the quality of the image is not great – yet – but as with smart phones, this will undoubtedly improve. Married to apps such as Hangout, the user can also live stream from anywhere in the world at any time.

On the content side, Glass allows the user to access Google information at a touch (or a command), bringing a whole new level of depth to in-the-field reporting.

If that were all Glass could do, that would be more than enough. I think, however, that Glass opens the door to something far more interesting for newsrooms, if they have the courage to embrace its full potential.

Like the iPhone, I think that Glass is going to be a radical game-changer. If I am right (and my personal experience so far militates toward this), I think that in the not too distant future you are going to see millions of people purchasing and wearing Glass. This should not be too much of a surprise. There are now more than 1.2 billion smart phones in circulation in the world, expected to go to 3 billion by 2017.

What does this mean for news?

It means that, properly leveraged, a newsroom can dip into several million ‘reportes’ anywhere in the world, at any time, with an enormously powerful tool at their disposal.

I recently read a piece in the NY Times by Bill Keller, former Managing Editor of The Times. He said that he had, at his disposal, 75 correspondents in 35 countries around the world. That is the ‘power’ of The NY Times. Compared to the potential that Glass will soon represent, that is a pathetic number – or will soon be viewed as such.

In the not too distant future there will be, no doubt, one billion people all over the world, online all the time, not just a recipients, but also as potential generators of news. It’s an enormous resource, and one that has never existed before. Will newsrooms take advantage of it?

I doubt it. CNN already had 750,000 registered iReporters. How much of their work do you see on CNN? Would none be a good answer? Conventional news operations have always been, at heart, terrified of new technologies. Glass will be no exception.

This past week, my LEAF went over 4000 miles and I can tell you that I'm 100% sold on the electric car.

The Nissan LEAF runs on batteries that you charge up by plugging the car in. The car takes no gas and it will run, depending on how you drive it, 70-100 miles on a single charge.

The LEAF is not a good car if it's your only car. When I make a trip to Orlando, I can't take the LEAF. But it is an awesome second car.

I bought the LEAF back in August and in that time I have only purchased 3 tanks of gas for my other car (Hummer H3).

5 months and only 3 tanks of gas adds up to a lot of money saved at the pump.

People often ask me, what about my electric bill? How much has that gone up?

Actually, so far my electric bill has gone down. The reason being is a bought the car at the end of the summer, which means my air conditioner has not been running non stop like it does in a Florida summer.

I will really know, how much my power bill is going up next summer.

In the past, I have owned a Jaguar, Porsche and a Corvette and I can say that the LEAF is every bit as fun to drive than those cars.

As the technology improves, the range on electric cars will increase and the cost will come down. I leased my LEAF for 3 years and I expect by the time my lease is up, the next gen will be even better.

After driving 4000 miles in the LEAF..... I can say that my next car in 2016 will also be electric.

I'm sold.

BTW the picture above is my Nissan LEAF (the red one) charging up at a local area mall.

I have had my Google Glass Explorer edition for just about a week now and I want to give you some first impressions.

I will follow up with more info as I continue to wear Glass and use it.

When you first start wearing Glass it seems a bit strange, you can see the display in your peripheral vision. But after wearing it for a few hours you don't even notice it, until you use it.

Google Glass works over WiFi and hooks to your phone via Bluetooth. I have an iPhone 5s and glass and the iPhone do not get along very well together. You can use them together, but you can't use all the features on Glass.

That's expected to change in the next few days as Google is releasing an iPhone app.

Of course, if you know me, you know I couldn't wait. I got my hands on the Google Nexus 5 running Android 4.4 and that gets along with Glass perfectly.

Using Glass to send and recieve texts is by far and away the thing I use it for most and it works flawlessly.

I see the incoming text in the display and I respond by just speaking my response to Glass. I love this!

I also use Glass to quickly scan my emails. When an email comes in, Glass alerts me. I just look up and can see who the email is from, the subject and a few lines of text. I can tap on Glass and read the entire email. but it is just much easier to do that on my phone.

The thing I like, Glass gives me a preview without having to dig out my phone. If it's an email that can wait, I just forget about it till later when I have the time.

Glass will also give you directions and let you place phone calls all hands free.

There is much more that Glass does and I will get more into that later.

There is a downside to wearing Google Glass. People that have no clue what it is look at you strange. I think they are sure I am some sort of terminator or something.

But, what's worse are the people that do know what it is and then they start to ask you all about it.

In just the past week, I must have told 300 people what it's like to wear and own Google Glass. Of course, many of these people want to try it on. I have let some do so, but I'm not really big on handing over my Glass to a stranger. Google Glass is definitely not a good choice for a germaphobe. People really want to try on Glass.

There is a feature that lets you screencast Glass to your phone and that let's you show people what you see through Glass without letting them try it one. This is an awesome feature!

I will give a better review of Glass as I continue to wear it and try different things.

But for now, I have really enjoyed looking through the looking Glass.

By the way wearing Google Glass with an Apple hat is steeped in irony and I'm sure that Steve Jobs just flipped over one more time. Sorry Steve!

Yesterday morning I received and email from Google, inviting me to be part of the Google Glass project as one of their Explorers.

Most of you know what Google Glass is, but if you don't, it's basically a computer that you wear on your head like a pair of glasses.

Being the gadget geek that I am, I jumped at the chance to join the Glass Project. I filled out the form yesterday and I should be getting my Google Glass in the next week.

I will be sure to give you guys my impressions of Google Glass and my review.

How could Google Glass be used in a newsroom? I will look at it closely and see how it might be able to be used in the world of TV news.

People that walk around wearing their Google Glass are often referred to as GlassHoles, mainly because they have something that no one else can get yet.

So, I am fully prepared to be called a GlassHole.

Trust me when I say, I have been called much worse.

Note: I have heard that people that have been picked as a Google Glass Explorer get give 3 invites to other people to join the project. I don't know if this is true or not, but if you're interested, let me know and I will consider putting you on the list.

Apple announced this morning that they sold 9 million iPhones since Friday's launch, which is clearly a record for the company.

Apple has also said they are sold out of the 5S model until October.

FTVLive went to the store hoping to buy the gold colored iPhone 5S, but the store only had 20 in stock and I was back around 100 inline. We ended up getting the black....errrrr space gray iPhone instead.

We've had the phone for the weekend and wanted to give you our first thoughts on it.

First, this iPhone is much faster than any of the Apple phones in the past. It is the first phone using a 64 bit processor and you can tell. Everything from opening apps to surfing the web is faster.

The camera is also much better and the slow mo that Apple added is awesome for someone that likes to record their golf swing (I wonder who that would be?) and play it back to see what we need to work on. The camera is so much better in low light conditions, compared to iPhones of the past.

As for IOS 7, I have been using it for months and while I wasn't a big fan at first, I have grown to love it. I'm more than happy to have it on the new phone as well.

The fingerprint sensor works much better than I thought. I no longer have to swipe to open my iPhone. I figured you would have to worry about getting your finger on the button "just so" to get it to work. That has not been the case at all. no matter how I put my finger on the sensor it reads it and opens my phone. It was a feature I really didn't think I would care about, but now I like that it takes away one step to getting into my phone.

I can say that the new iPhone 5S lives up to the promises. As for the look, not much has changed, but under the hood, there have been a number of changes.

As for our first impressions, the changes that have been made are a big improvement.

Yesterday, NBC's Brian Williams had a story on Nightly News that car sales had their best August in years.

And I'm happy to say that I contributed to that.

I have been on the car market for quite awhile, but I really didn't have the guts (or the money) to buy a car.

I kept putting it off and I decided now was the time.

I have my 2006 Hummer H3 that I love, but it is not a practical everyday car. The gas mileage sucks and I knew I wanted something smaller and a vehicle that got good gas mileage.

I was talking to KIRO (Seattle) News Director Bob Jordan a couple of months ago. Bob drives a Chevy Volt which is an electric car that you plug in and charge. The car goes for about 50 miles on a charge and then an onboard gas engine kicks in and keeps the car going after the electric charge has run out.

Bob urged me to go drive the Chevy Volt and he promised I would love it. I took the Volt for a test drive and Bob was right, I loved it.

After years of rumors of all sorts of newfangled products supposedly in development to take over the living rooms, there’s fresh scuttlebutt that Apple is in discussions to create a service that would allow viewers to engage in ad-skipping.

And here’s the grabber: Apple would supposedly pay the TV networks for the ad revenue they missed out on due to to the skipped commercials.